WORRIED residents say the loss of the 480 will leave them and their neighbours isolated.

Olga Brown lives with her husband Malcolm in Tottington Road, and she regularly catches the bus to visit Bolton and Bury on market days and for social events.

The couple are both in their late seventies and Mrs Brown said the bus is a “vital link” for many people around their street.

She added: “It’s a little community on the bus, and there are regular people who get on it. I’m pretty fit, but I know some of the passengers are 80-odd, 90-odd, and they will struggle to walk further to catch another bus.

“They love to go to the markets. It will isolate them if it goes.

“I don’t know what I will do. I don’t want to take the car into Bolton — I probably won’t go as much, especially in the winter.”

Mr Brown, who worked for a heating and engineering company before he retired, said he would be happy if a smaller bus could still come along the road.

He added: “Because we’ve known it’s a limited service we’ve made a strong effort to use it.

“We’re being told not to take our cars into town, yet they want to get rid of this bus.”

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David Leeming and his wife Maureen also catch the 480 to travel to Bolton and Bury.

Mr Leeming, aged 82, said it was a “very useful” way to reach the town centres from their home in Riding Gate Mews.

The retired road transport engineer said: “Riding Gate is up a steep part of Tottington Road, so if you have to carry heavy shopping bags from Morrisons at the bottom it’s no fun at all.

“We use the bus to go to Bury, as it’s a nice route and it’s direct. If they stop the service we will have to go to Tottington Road, either use a taxi or get a bus in Bolton and then another bus to Bury — I don’t think we’ll be going to Bury as often.

“It’s vital, particularly for the elderly. When you get to a certain age you become dependent on the bus. It’s cutting a lifeline.”